Mumbai remembers victims of July 2006 train bombings

Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) The commuters of Mumbai suburban trains Friday remembered the victims of the serial blasts that killed 186 people and injured over 1,000 others, this day two years ago, by lighting candles and offering silent homage at many stations here. The seven bombs had ripped the Western Railway (WR)’s suburban trains - the city’s lifeline - within minutes of one another during the evening peak hour that fateful day, raking up the memories of the terror bombings of March 12, 1993.

Two years later, many commuters gathered at Mumbai’s railway stations like Churchgate and Borivali and offered silent prayers for the victims.

Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya described what he termed as “a miracle” this evening.

“Mumbai president Gopal Shetty, vice-president Atul Shah and myself went to visit one of the victims of the train bombings, Parag Sawant, who has been in coma for the past two years,” he told IANS.

“However, when we were present in his ward at the Hinduja Hospital this afternoon, Sawant displayed slight movements and even shook his hand with me,” Somaiya said.

The investigations into the incident are still underway and so far seven persons have been identified as main suspects in the blasts. The Mumbai police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad has taken four activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) into custody.

Somaiya said though two years have passed, the railways and the government are dilly-dallying in the matter of providing compensation to the 1,081 survivors, and harassing them on various counts though many of them are still undergoing medical treatment.